It Takes Roots

It can be difficult to keep up with the ever-changing world of climate solutions, and not all “solutions” are inherently equitable or just. Fortunately, we’ve identified three straight-forward questions that can help you separate false solutions from the real deal:

1. Who makes the decisions?
Those closest to the problems will inevitably know the most about what the solutions need to look like. For any climate solution to truly work for Indigenous peoples, communities of color, and working class communities, it must embody the practice of community self-determination.

2. Who benefits?
The climate crisis is ecological, but it has its roots in systemic inequity that is both racial and economic. To address these root causes, authentic solutions must flip the existing dynamics around racial injustice, wealth extraction, and labor exploitation.

3. What else will this impact?
Sometimes environmental “solutions” can create new problems for other issues that we care about – e.g. housing, economic development, immigration, policing, mass incarceration, etc. Real solutions must work for ALL of our issues.

#ItTakesRoots to #GrowtheResistance centers the leadership and power of urban and rural communities on the frontlines of racial, gender, housing, environmental, energy and climate justice in the United States to advance regenerative economies and healthy communities. ITR is a multiracial, multicultural, multi-generational alliance of networks and alliances representing over 200 organizations and affiliates in over 50 states, provinces, territories and Native lands in the U.S. and Canada, and is led by women, gender nonconforming people, people of color, and Indigenous Peoples. It is an outcome of years of organizing and relationship building across the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), and Right to the City Alliance (RTC) alongside Center for Story-based Strategy and The Ruckus Society.

In Open Letter to Brown, Communities Most Affected by Climate Change Demand Real People and Earth-Based Solutions

SAN FRANCISCO- On day three of the Solidarity to Solutions Week countering the upcoming Global Action Climate Summit, frontline leaders hosted a rally and delivered an open letter rejecting the Governor’s Climate and Forest Task Force and demanding its cancellation.

Advocates blocked the entrance to Gov. Brown’s Climate and Forest Task Force meeting and risked arrest as they demanded entry. Calling out the false solutions the Task Force continues to push (which do nothing to stop global warming), local and international Indigenous leaders delivered an open letter to Governor Jerry Brown and members of the Task Force.

The letter states:“You cannot commodify the sacred — we reject these market based climate change solutions and projects like the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program (REDD+), because they are false solutions that further destroy our rights, our ability to use our forests, and our sovereignty and self-determination. The Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force does not represent us and has no authority over our peoples and territories.”

Signatories continued to call out specific practices that are presented as climate solutions, but, in fact, are attempts to maintain corporate power and government ownership of forests and lands that should belong to the people and do nothing to address the climate crisis:

“But in order to keep it in your hands you invent forms of state ownership such as ‘conservation areas’ or ‘sustainable development areas.’ You invent more forms of offsets such as ‘intelligent agriculture’ ‘biodiversity offsets’ and even ‘butterfly offsets’ that detrimentally affect our lives, our food security, our forests, our biodiversity, and sovereignty. We will never accept the state’s so-called ‘Ecological Area for Sustainable Development for the Province of Pastaza’ or anywhere else in the 37 provinces, 10 countries, and a third of the forests of the world. Our forests are not carbon dumps, they are our homes.”

The letter ended with a call to reject and cancel the Task Force on behalf of future generations who will be disproportionately impacted by its policies and agreements:

“The sacred cannot be commodified nor is it for bargaining. We reject and call for the cancellation of the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force. We declare this on behalf of our future generations so that they have the possibility of living free like our forests and as free as the eagle of the Amazon. We demand respect to our right to choose how we want to live, how we want to feel, how we want to breathe.”

After a short confrontation with representatives from Brown’s Task Force, several local and international Indigenous representatives were granted entry into the meeting to make their demands heard.

Today’s action is the focus of Day #3 of the Sol2Sol Week that will also include public events, another direct action and forums to demand that Brown and climate profiteers put communities, not corporations, first and call for a divestment from extractive energy industries and investment in local community solutions to fight climate change.

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#ItTakesRoots to #GrowtheResistance centers the leadership and power of urban and rural communities on the frontlines of racial, gender, housing, environmental, energy and climate justice in the United States to advance regenerative economies and healthy communities. ITR is a multiracial, multicultural, multi-generational alliance of networks and alliances representing over 200 organizations and affiliates in over 50 states, provinces, territories and Native lands in the U.S. and Canada, and is led by women, gender nonconforming people, people of color, and Indigenous Peoples. It is an outcome of years of organizing and relationship building across the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), and Right to the City Alliance (RTC) alongside Center for Story-based Strategy and The Ruckus Society.

The People’s Orientation to the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) is intended for a philanthropic audience and will be led by representatives of grassroots movements rooted in Indigenous communities, communities of color, and other low income communities on the front lines of the climate crisis. ﻿﻿Loading…

Given the current political climate in the United States, and given that any authentic, scalable solution must also be a local solution, when people in positions of power and privilege come together to discuss potential solutions to a problem, we must be highly vigilant questioning who is to benefit and at what real cost.

For, we must ensure that the lived experience and thought leadership of our communities who are first and most impacted by the problem, decide which solutions are most needed, transformative and just.

In centering the place-based knowledge of frontline communities, starting in traditional lands of local Ohlone Nations and in solidarity with Indigenous peoples around the world, we can start to engage in healthy debate and robust assessment of the most effective and democratic pathways for climate justice and action.

In service and solidarity with the thought leadership of communities in the Bay Area, across the state and around the world and our millions of place-based solutions,

To challenge, expose and stop the massive subsidies being handed to Multinational Corporations violating and destroying our families and ecosystems,

And, to move these public funds to repair, restore and protect Mother Earth and all her peoples.

Governor Jerry Brown’s Summit, and the host of market-based schemes and corporate techno-fixes being brokered inside the Summit, are neither democratic, ecologically sound or compassionate responses to the most painful crises facing humanity.

We need to end the epidemic of disaster capitalism, and redirect stolen wealth to the service, solidarity and support of communities forging the true, place-based strategies – solutions that address the root causes of climate change, poverty and the crises of democracy.

The following are talking points that local organizers, community leaders and spokespersons can utilize when speaking about Sol2Sol

Myth of Science and Market as Saviors

Market mechanisms aren’t authentic solutions → they lead to poverty for our people, the destruction of our air, water and lands, and the exploitation of our labor.

Schemes driven by corporations and venture capitalists to make money from misery and harm will not lead to the visionary action needed to move the masses to shift behaviors of consumption at the rate and scale needed to save the planet, only grassroots power-building can do that.

Corporations promoting these schemes are the very ones responsible for causing the climate crises, by being the opportunistic beneficiaries and primary drivers of the global “dig,burn, drive, dump” economy.

Most of these schemes, such as Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS), Biomass Energy (BECCS), Nuclear Power and Mega-Hydro projects – serve to further exacerbate, not solve the problem. Many of these schemes, such as climate engineering (aka geo-engineering) experiments are neither “proven” to be effective nor safe and are being explored in the US now.

Jerry Brown is championing the linking of international pollution trading markets, to further increase the profits and reduce the risks to the very corporations plundering the planet. If CA, the EU, and China join carbon markets, they will become the biggest securities market to benefit the fossil fuel industry and destroy humanity in history.

Trading pollution credits to perversely subsidize the global markets and dig, burn, drive, dump systems of extractive capital, keeps much needed funds from going to our self-determined solutions that both support our communities’ needs, while restoring the natural systems we need to be healthy and safe.

Financializing Mother Earth and enslaving all her forms of life to serve the needs of a privileged few, while destroying the lives of the many, is what we consider a path of ecological disaster.

Systems Change for Intersectional Justice in Practice

The problems our communities face are system crises created by institutions, corporations and decision makers. Organized groups of people and truly democratic governance can and must intervene to change these systems.

Approaches to scale and diversity need to be called to question if they continue to concentrate wealth and power while displacing, gentrifying, imprisoning and harming frontline communities locally and globally.

ITR will strategically highlight frontline communities from across the US, around the world and in San Francisco in particular, where we will make the case to the broader movement, general public, elected officials and our members that investing in community driven solutions that address the systemic drivers of the crises of the environment, the economy and governance is the only viable path forward.

Mayors and Governors responding to climate change in the void of national leadership are beholden to constituents and communities not corporations.

Right now, grassroots groups, thought leaders and funders are fighting for a radical democracy that includes all people. This should apply to our strategies for organizing solutions for climate action. The GCAS is by invitation only and top-down, communities consistently marginalized at The United Nations Conference of Parties (COPs) from Copenhagen to Cancun, Paris, and Morocco are coming together in San Francisco to shift a solutions narrative that will transform climate action.

Energy Democracy principles, scorecards and pledges developed by CJA, and allies hold local governors, mayors and utilities accountable to energy solutions that address energy efficiency, community governance, and incorporate the rights of nature amongst others and are better indicators of long term impact.

Shifting Corporate Subsidies to Communities on the Frontlines of Change

Corporate schemes to address climate change, such as market mechanisms like pollution trading, forest carbon offsets, clean coal, bioenergy, fracked gas, waste incineration and nuclear power only exacerbate the problem and do not offer real solutions to guarantee global temperatures don’t rise by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over the next few years, ensuring our survival on the planet.

Our communities (and our world) can and will thrive when we invest in democratic, people-driven solutions that successfully tackle the root causes of the crises.

Jerry Brown’s allegiance with big business, has resulted in his commitment to marketing pollution, selling out frontline communities for profit.

Intersectional movements are uniting to redirect all subsidies, community wealth, and public investments away from polluting, extractive corporations and their disaster capitalist schemes and moving these funds to community and worker led solutions.

Modeling Natural Ecosystems, Uplifting Indigenous Sovereignty

Indigenous Sky, Land, and Water protectors that are upholding the sacred relationship of communities to Mother Earth and Father Sky will unite to strategize beyond the borders of corporate empire and build power centering Indigenous spirituality, knowledge, sovereignty and leadership.

The scale and intensity of the ecological crises requires complex, transformative and systemic change strategies that are perfectly aligned with the natural systems of earth, air, water and fire that support life on our Earth. We need to design, build and invest in systems and cultures of economy, caring and sharing that prioritize the restoration of our relationship with these natural systems and each other.

Community-based solutions are defined by core design and environmental justice principles such as traditional ecological knowledge, mutuality and solidarity and intersectional inclusion.

Systemic change strategies such as energy democracy, food sovereignty, zero waste, ecosystem restoration, housing justice, and public transportation would serve to meet the needs of billions of people around the world, if guided by place-based ecological knowledge and leadership.

If you’re interested in highlighting your community’s participation in the It Takes Roots Solidarity to Solutions Week of Action in your local newspaper, follow these six simple steps.

Scan your local paper for an article or opinion piece that discusses climate change, the environment or community activism. It is likely that it will talk about the problem and solution in liberal or moderate rather than pro-people terms. This provides you with an opportunity to insert your more place-based and local perspective.

Once you have found the article you would like to respond to follow the steps laid out in the Letters to the Editor section which you can usually find in the Opinion section of the paper. They will provide you with the word limit guidelines and what email address or form to submit your letter to.

Add in the name of the article you are responding to and the date it was published in your letter.

Customize the draft letter below by inserting your own language and community perspective where it makes sense.

Submit it for publication and follow up via email or by calling the Opinion Editor after 2-3 days if you don’t hear back. Ask them if they received your submission and if they will consider publishing it.

Let us know when you submit your letter and if it’s published we’ll help you amplify it! Contact: olivia@climatejusticealliance.org with any questions you might have.

DRAFT LTE TEMPLATE

Dear editor,

Re: [Insert the title of the article or opinion piece you are responding to in quotations marks] published on [insert date of story]

This September, California Governor Jerry Brown is planning to showcase market-based approaches to global warming at his Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) in San Francisco. While many tout him as an environmentalist, the US global position on climate negotiations that support these corporate subsidy models are dreadfully lacking and have only served to worsen pollution and devastation in communities like mine.

Often those of us who live in places like [name of your town/city] are forgotten due to [insert what specific issues faced by your community such as racism, anti-immigrant sentiment, climate migration, poverty, police brutality, neglect, etc.], and are

Choose all or some to complete the above section:

ill prepared to deal with extreme weather events,

have to navigate environmental racism on a daily basis and

reside in areas close to toxic waste sites and pollution.

We know all too well the effects of short sighted market-based solutions on our communities; they simply don’t work.

The good news is, we know what does because we have had to forge solutions out of necessity. Whether it be close to home or in Flint, New Orleans or Puerto Rico, smart and committed people on the front lines of environmental devastation are pulling together to find clean and sustainable ways to rebuild our neighborhoods through new economic solutions based on healthy work that serves our communities, heals the planet and preserves our cultures.

That’s why this September I will travel to San Francisco and join thousands from the US and around the world to say NO to corporate fixes and YES to local solutions that meet communities where they are during the Solidarity to Solutions Week being held parallel to the GCAS!

Select a closing:

In these politically uncertain times, we owe nothing less to our children and the planet than bold and courageous action. Nothing short of a redirection of funds of all subsidies, community wealth, and public investments away from polluting, extractive corporations and their market-based models to community and worker led clean solutions will do.

As we continue to feel the chilling effects of climate change, it would behoove us all to learn from the solutions that have already been forged in the hardest hit communities—Indigenous peoples and the rural and urban poor—whose air and water are poisoned by fossil fuel extraction, livelihoods are threatened by floods and drought, and whose communities are the least protected in extreme weather events. We are the ones that will continue to pay the price for our inability to make a Just Transition, away from an extractive economy and towards a regenerative one. We owe it to each other to listen and demand action from our elected leaders before it is too late.

Time is running out. Market mechanisms like pollution trading, forest carbon offsets, clean coal, bioenergy, fracked gas, waste incineration and nuclear power only exacerbate the problem by contributing to global warming rather than offering solutions to ensure the planet stays below the safe threshold of a 1.5 degree rise in temperature over the next few years. Scientists all agree that a world warmer than that would only cause more extreme weather and natural disasters which would produce political instability, wars, drought, habitat loss, and increased climate migration.

Sincerely,

First and last nameOrganization affiliation and titleStreet AddressCity, State, Zip CodeCell Phone #

From September 8-14, 2018, we’ll converge on the San Francisco Bay Area (in the original territories of the Ohlone Peoples) for the #ItTakesRoots Solidarity to Solutions #Sol2Sol week! Please spread the word and mobilize your community to come and support frontline communities’ solutions to the climate crisis.

Tacoma, WA – Early Saturday Morning, Indigenous and Grassroots Groups held a prayer action at the Tacoma Detention Center, which is operated by the Geo Group on behalf of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Geo Group is the one of the main companies that the U.S. government contracts for migrant detention.

This action took place during the Protecting Mother Earth Conference (PME), which is being held on traditional Nisqually lands, just 10 miles south of Tacoma. The purpose of the PME is to gather Indigenous Peoples from across the world to share lessons, celebrate victories, and build unity and stronger alliances to defend and protect, land, water, the climate and Indigenous Rights.

For Indigenous Peoples, the atrocities that we are witnessing throughout the country and on the borders today is merely history repeating itself. The forced separation of families, the abduction of children, and the detainment of innocent people, has been occurring for hundreds of years, namely with the boarding school and foster care systems implemented in Indigenous communities to assimilate and colonize children.

Following the action in Tacoma, organizers and participants returned to the Protecting Mother Earth Conference to lead a water ceremony at the Nisqually River.

The following is a statement drafted by Indigenous Elders and Youth of Turtle Island and Beyond:

“We are gathered here to recognize the continued entrapment and invasions of the Indigenous Peoples. We are here for your freedom. You have every right to be with your family. Your family is good. Your family loves you. Your families deserve to be together and free. These colonial settler states should not be doing this to you and this is not your fault. You did nothing wrong by arriving here to survive. Your families also belong here and we recognize you as our relatives. We relate and empathize with you. This colonial government continues to do to you what the’ve done to our native nations, through brutal separation, torture in boarding schools, and displacement. The fear that you feel and the uncertainty you feel now, we have felt before. We will create space for your healing.

You are now in our territories and we welcome you in a good way, because you belong with us and we belong with you. As original peoples of the this continent you are not immigrants, you are inside your own continental homeland. We do not recognize colonial borders created to subjugate us and to sustain White Supremacy. We will break this cycle of trauma that is continuing with your experience.

Our authority is in breaking circles of trauma based on colonialism. All of our ancestors are with you, our spirits are with you. We invoke the spirit of self-determination of the Indigenous People of Abya Yala (Turtle Island) and we commit to the continued liberation of all our relatives, of yours and our families and our territories. When we are done with our work fulfilling the Eagle and Condor prophecy, our children will be free to roam this land safe from violence and exploitation. As Indigenous Peoples, we are not immigrants in this continent.”

You are invited to join us for an informational webinar on Wed. June 20th from 1pm-2pm PST/ 3pm-4pm CST/ 4pm-5pm EST – we willdiscuss the It Takes Roots Solidarity to Solutions Week being held from September 8-14 in San Francisco this fall!

The Climate Justice Alliance, Grassroots Global Justice, Indigenous Environmental Network and Right to the City have joined forces in the It Takes Roots Alliance to focus our collective efforts on building a visionary opposition to the most critical problems facing frontline communities in the era of Trumpism.

Toward that end, we felt it important to organize a parallel week of action to the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) currently being organized by California Governor Jerry Brown. We want our actions and events to serve as a counterpoint to the GCAS, where market-based solutions will be lifted up as the ONLY solutions to climate change, which we know will only devastate our communities even more.

Presenters include:

Angela Adrar, Climate Justice Alliance

Pennie Opal Plant, Idle No More

Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network

Teresa Almaguer, PODER

Right to the City (speaker to be confirmed)

International Representative (speaker to be confirmed)

I hope you will be able to join us to learn more about why this week is so important at this moment in history, what we have planned each day, how you and your organization can participate, get involved and support the Sol to Sol Week of Action.

The webinar will take place Wednesday, June 20th from 1pm-2pm PST/ 3pm-4pm CST/ 4pm-5pm EST.

AT THIS POINT APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED AND ALL PARTICIPANTS HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED. IF YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BUT HAVE NOT CONFIRMED AND SENT OVER YOUR FLIGHT DETAILS, SEND THEM TO MAYA@GGJALLIANCE.ORG IMMEDIATELY!

Prep calls are REQUIRED for all accepted participants. Please register for the calls below:

If you are an accepted participant, you are expected to fundraise $300 to cover the costs of camp by June 20. Find the fundraising packet with more information here!

The It Takes Roots Alliances (Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, Climate Justice Alliance, Right to the City Alliance, Indigenous Environmental Network), are excited to announce the It Takes Roots & The Ruckus Society, National Direct Action + Community Resiliency Camp to train up our forces on an array of strategic + tactical & self and community based resilience skills to build across our alliances and prepare to continue to wage visionary opposition for our collective liberation. The camp will take place at Wildseed Farm in Millerton NY (about 1.5 hours north of NYC) from June 1-5, 2018.

What is an Action Camp?
A Ruckus Action Camp is an intensive 5 day, off the grid, full immersion training space that brings together leaders, organizers and community members from across many of our communities to do a deep dive into direct action skills, theory and practice. The camp seeks to create a space for participants to familiarize and practice and array of tactical skills, share collective community knowledge around strategy and provide opportunities for community members to share, practice and envision together.

Direct Action + Survival Skills – Resilience in the age of climate disaster
Together with Ruckus, this national camp will be a groundbreaking and first of its kind that seeks to provide in-depth training for our folks in both direct action skills and survival skills. As more and more of our communities are impacted by hurricanes, floods, fires and massive displacement, our need to deepen our capacities to survive amidst climate disaster is critical and move us toward a just transition.

Accepting Applications through April 24, 2018 until filled.
You will only be contacted if we are requesting an interview.Preferred location: Washington DC metro area. This job will include travel.Compensation: Salary is commensurate with experience. This position is full-time with benefits including health, dental and vision coverage and generous vacation.

Grassroots Global Justice (GGJ) is a national alliance of over 60 US-based grassroots organizing (GRO) groups organizing to build an agenda for power for working and poor people and communities of color. We understand that there are important connections between the local issues we work on and the global context, and we see ourselves as part of an international movement for global justice. GGJ focuses on bringing GRO organizations into a long-term process of relationship building, political alignment and the development of transformational leadership, particularly for working and poor women and gender-oppressed people of color. We weave and bridge together US-based GRO groups and global social movements working for climate justice, gender justice, an end to war, and a just transition to a new economy that is better for people and the planet. For more about GGJ, visit our website: http://ggjalliance.org

It Takes Roots (ITR) to Grow the Resistance is an initiative of Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), and Right to the City Alliance (RTC), and with capacity support from The Ruckus Society and Center for Story-based Strategy. In the aftermath of the 2016 Presidential elections, #ItTakesRoots to Grow the Resistance spearheaded a response from the grassroots organizing sector that is confronting the attacks on poor communities, Indigenous Peoples and communities of color that has been fomented by this administration. It Takes Roots is a multiracial effort led by women & gender oppressed people of color and Indigenous peoples on the frontlines of racial, housing and climate justice across the country. Learn more at http://ittakesroots.org

Key Duties Summary: This position will be housed in GGJ with half time supporting GGJ operations and half time supporting ITR operations. This position will coordinate shared administrative needs for the ITR and GGJ staff teams, coordinate travel and logistical support for US based events and international delegations, and lead the financial tracking and bookkeeping for It Takes Roots. This position will be part of a growing It Takes Roots staff team, will report to the GGJ Deputy Director, and will work closely with the GGJ Bookkeeper.

Job Responsibilities

Coordinate Logistics for GGJ and ITR programs (60%)

1. Support organizing team in preparation for programs.

Support creation and distribution of recruitment packets, track applications, and provide logistical information to delegates.

Conduct initial logistics research for programs to give input to Organizing team for budget planning.

Work with GGJ Bookkeeper to prepare all accounting files and reconciliation work-papers for annual tax return and audit.

Maintain Quickbooks software by updating when necessary.

Provide other accounting services as may be requested from time to time.

Required Qualifications and Experience

At least 3 years high level administrative experience, ideally in remote workplace environment.

At least 2 years of accounting or bookkeeping work.

Support the mission, vision and goals of ITR and GGJ.

Knowledge and experience on at least some of the topics our members work on, such as gender justice, just transition, environmental justice, anti-militarism, indigenous sovereignty, housing and anti-eviction work, etc.

Experience in multi-racial, multi-cultural settings.

Excellent attention to detail and the ability to maintain a variety of projects and activities simultaneously.

Ability to forecast and plan several months in advance

Ability to work independently while maintaining close communication with remote teams.

Ability to work flexible hours, including communicating with people in other parts of the country in different time zones.

Ability to be responsive in a consistent, clear, and prompt manner to communications and requests.

Ability to meet deadlines, coordinate multiple streams of work, and keep other staff/members on task.

High level of self-management, hold self to excellent work standards.

Creativity is encouraged and trouble-shooting skills will be necessary.

Outgoing, positive energy, professional attitude in dealing with members, staff, allies and vendors.

Attention to quality experience: a ‘customer service’ orientation and ability to provide highly professional logistical support to make activities smooth and efficient.

Willingness to travel: average 5-10 days per month in the US, and 15 days per year internationally.

Driver’s license and liability insurance.

Preferred Experience

IT systems skills a plus.

Ability to write and speak a second language, preferably Spanish.

Organizing background in some of the topics our members work on (see above).

How To Apply
Please submit Resume, cover letter, a sample of at least 750 words of an operations plan that you wrote and/or laid out and 3 references (please include someone who has supervised you and someone you have supervised or mentored) to ggjalliance@gmail.com with “Ops Coordinator” in the subject. Only candidates that are being considered will be contacted.

Accepting Applications through April 24, 2018 until filled.
You will only be contacted if we are requesting an interview.Flexible location. This job will include travel.Compensation: Salary is commensurate with experience. This position is full-time with benefits including health, dental and vision coverage and generous vacation.

Grassroots Global Justice (GGJ) is a national alliance of over 60 US-based grassroots organizing (GRO) groups organizing to build an agenda for power for working and poor people and communities of color. We understand that there are important connections between the local issues we work on and the global context, and we see ourselves as part of an international movement for global justice. GGJ focuses on bringing GRO organizations into a long-term process of relationship building, political alignment and the development of transformational leadership, particularly for working and poor women and gender-oppressed people of color. We weave and bridge together US-based GRO groups and global social movements working for climate justice, gender justice, an end to war, and a just transition to a new economy that is better for people and the planet. For more about GGJ, visit our website: http://ggjalliance.org

It Takes Roots (ITR) to Grow the Resistance is an initiative of Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), and Right to the City Alliance (RTC), and with capacity support from The Ruckus Society and Center for Story-based Strategy. In the aftermath of the 2016 Presidential elections, #ItTakesRoots to Grow the Resistance spearheaded a response from the grassroots organizing sector that is confronting the attacks on poor communities, Indigenous Peoples and communities of color that has been fomented by this administration. It Takes Roots is a multiracial effort led by women & gender oppressed people of color and Indigenous peoples on the frontlines of racial, housing and climate justice across the country. Learn more at http://ittakesroots.org

Key Duties Summary: This position will be housed in GGJ with 50% of time supporting GGJ communications and 50% of time supporting It Takes Roots communications. This position will guide Narrative Strategy, coordinate ITR communications and media teams, support member groups playing communications roles in programs, and coordinate with communications contractors for both GGJ and ITR. This position will be part of a growing It Takes Roots staff team, and will report to the It Takes Roots Coordinator and the GGJ Deputy Director.

At least 5 years communications experience and demonstrated ability to lead narrative strategy and communications plans in social justice sectors.

Support the mission, vision and goals of ITR and GGJ.

Knowledge and experience on at least some of the topics our members work on, such as gender justice, just transition, environmental justice, anti-militarism, indigenous sovereignty, housing and anti-eviction work, etc.

Experience in multi-racial, multi-cultural settings.

Excellent attention to detail and ability to maintain a variety of activities simultaneously.

Able to work independently while maintaining close communication with remote teams.

Ability to work flexible hours, including communicating with people in other parts of the country in different time zones.

Excellent writing and editing skills in English for diverse audiences.

Facilitation and training skills with grassroots organizing sector a plus.

How To Apply
Please submit Resume, cover letter, written sample of at least 750 words you wrote (published or unpublished) and 3 references (please include someone who has supervised you and someone you have supervised or mentored) to ggjalliance@gmail.com with “Comms Coordinator” in the subject. Only candidates that are being considered will be contacted.

Accepting Applications January 2018, until filled.
You will only be contacted if we are requesting an interview.
Preferred Location: Miami, FL, San Francisco Bay Area, CA or Washington, DC. This job will include travel.Salary: This position is full-time with compensation of $52,000-$55,000 a year, depending on level of experience. Benefits include health, dental and vision coverage and generous vacation.

It Takes Roots (ITR) to Grow the Resistance is an initiative of Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), and Right to the City Alliance (RTC), and with capacity support from the Center for Story-based Strategy (CSS) and the Ruckus Society. Learn more at http://ittakesroots.org

In the aftermath of the 2016 Presidential elections, #ItTakesRoots to Grow the Resistance spearheaded a response from the grassroots organizing sector that is confronting the attacks on poor communities, Indigenous Peoples and communities of color that has been fomented by this administration. We organized a sprint-run from November 2016 through November 2017, and are now entering a phase of long-term consultation and strategic development of our collaborative work.

In this period, there is a need for a coordinator that can move the following pieces of work: coordination of staff from the four alliances, relationship-building and information gathering with key external partners, ensuring the ITR teams are meeting and have what they need, coordination of member consultation leading up to joint member convenings in July and September 2018.

This position will be housed with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ) and will report to the National Coordinator of GGJ. For more about Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, visit our website here: www.ggjalliance.org.

Job Responsibilities1. Coordination of staff from the four alliances and movement support organizations
● Hold the overall coordination of the different areas of work of It Takes Roots.
● Work with all the alliances to identify the division of labor, and to create collaborative work-plans.
● Schedule, prepare agendas, and facilitate regular all-staff meetings (primarily via online video conferencing), identifying shared facilitation with other ITR staff.
● Work with It Takes Roots staff on member engagement and preparation.
● Work with staff from ITR alliances, Ruckus, CSS and others to refine our messaging and our actions, and to help determine roles and identify gaps that need to be filled.
● Lay the groundwork for It Takes Roots entering into the next phase.
● Coordinate between ITR team and movement support organizations to clarify work-plan and implementation plan.
● Coordinate and oversee logistics for ITR in person meetings or activities.

2. Relationship building with key external partners
● Represent ITR in ally meetings and maintain relationships with key partners such as The Majority, People’s Climate Mobilization, Mass-Based Resistance/Post-100, etc.
● Bring information back to It Takes Roots team, with recommendations on how to engage
● Ensure that allies and external partners are also lifting up It Takes Roots (in their messaging and comms strategies)
● Identify opportunities for It Takes Roots members to speak and/or play visible and leading roles in mobilizations, conference or meetings

3. Coordinate collective member consultation
● Work with staff of ITR alliances to create plan for collective member consultation
● Streamline consultation for organizations who are members of multiple ITR alliances
● Work with Communications team to share out the ITR proposal for consultation
● Work with leaders and staff to create agenda for consultation meetings
● Ensure documentation process for member feedback from consultation meetings

4. Formalize It Takes Roots structure
● Work with directors to define ongoing structure for ITR work, ie convening organizing team, communications team, etc.
● Set up preparation and orientation of members and delegates, working with ITR organizers to create agendas, trainings, and prepare speakers.
● Work with logistics staff to integrate logistics and programs.
● Coordinate any strategy conversations, trainings, or meetings with members and allies.
● Set up evaluation and reimbursement mechanisms for programs.
● Manage contractors that are brought onto the team on a temporary basis.

Required Qualifications and Experience
● At least 5 years of experience with base-building, organizing policy or issue-based campaigns or coordination of coalition or alliances/networks.
● Knowledge and experience on at least some of the topics our members work on, such as gender justice, just transition, environmental justice, anti-militarism, indigenous sovereignty, housing and anti-eviction work, etc.
● Attention to detail and the ability to maintain a variety of projects and activities simultaneously.
● Excellent writing and public speaking skills for diverse audiences.
● Experience in multi-racial, multi-generational, multi-cultural settings.
● Ability to work flexible hours, including communicating with allies in other parts of the country in different time zones.
● Ability to represent ITR in a variety of settings and to establish/maintain broad organizational relationships.
● Support the mission, vision and goals of ITR.
● Ability to write and speak English as well as a second language, preferably Spanish.
● Supervision experience a plus.
● Knowledge of common computer applications: MS Office, Google docs, Dropbox, and Zoom video tele-conferencing systems.
● Understanding of operations and functions of small non-profits.
● Ability to work independently while maintaining close communication with remote staff team.
● Willingness to travel: average 5-10 days per month in the US, and 15 days per year internationally.
● Ability to lead, design, and facilitate trainings with grassroots organizing sector.
● Responsive to emails and messages.
● Driver’s license and liability insurance.

How To Apply
Please submit Resume, cover letter, written sample of at least 750 words you wrote (published or unpublished) and 3 references (please include someone who has supervised you and someone you have supervised or mentored) to ggjalliance@gmail.com. Only candidates that are being considered will be contacted.

This report provides in-depth context to why carbon market systems will not mitigate climate change, will not advance adaptation strategies, will not serve the most vulnerable communities facing climate change impacts and only protect the fossil fuel industry and corporations from taking real climate action.

Furthermore, the publication is the first of its kind to be released in the United States and will help frontline communities and grassroots organizations articulate crucial points to challenge carbon markets and climate change. It is a tool in building a carbon market grassroots resistance.

On Wednesday November 15, Tom Goldtooth, co-author of the report, and members from communities who are impacted first and worst by climate change spoke at the UN Climate Change Talks to challenge nations, cities, and businesses who are promoting carbon markets as they violate Indigenous Rights and make way for more fossil fuel extraction near Indigenous, Black, and Brown communities.

Key points of Carbon Pricing Report:

Carbon trading, carbon offsets and REDD+ are fraudulent climate mitigation mechanisms that help corporations and governments to continue extracting and burning fossil fuels.

Revenues distributed to communities from carbon trading or carbon pricing never compensate for the destruction wrought by the extraction and pollution process required to obtain that revenue.

The injustices, racism and colonialism of carbon pricing schemes have worldwide effects that require international resistance.

This publication will help communities and organizations articulate crucial points to resist carbon pricing and climate change.

“The linking of carbon markets across the United States and the World is a tool that fossil-fuel companies have shaped and built to continue to extract and dump on frontline communities. Carbon pricing is a slap on the wrist, a reward really. History shows that, it does not have the ability to move us away from oil addiction, or reach our targets for climate justice. The only true way to reach our goals of 1.5C is to stop the fossil fuel machine at source, to provide stricter regulations, and to hold polluters accountable for their legacy of pollution. We need this Just Transition to survive! This report demonstrates through a historical and international lens the mounting threats these markets have wreaked on frontline communities across the world. It is a call to action for community resistance and resilience.” — Angela Adrar, Executive Director of the Climate Justice Alliance.

“Our Indigenous Peoples and people of color climate justice alliances saw a need to put together a publication that demystifies the carbon market regimes constantly being pushed upon our communities by environmental and climate organizations. Under the rubric of carbon pricing, these cap-and-trade, carbon offsets, carbon tax systems are false solutions that do not cut emissions at source, create toxic hot spots, and result in land grabs and violations of human rights and rights of Indigenous peoples in the forest regions of developing countries. People have a right to know the truth about these national and global initiatives that are nothing but the financialization of nature, the privatization of Mother Earth.” — Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network

“First of all if we are here it’s because we have a problem. I came here with a mission from my community to bring messages to the cop. These carbon trading mechanism are being implanted in the state of Acre Brazil and they are also implementing carbon offsets in Acre. The first thing that these carbon offset projects cause is division in our communities and when indigenous people and indigenous leaders are divided, there are very adverse social impacts. Everywhere I’ve gone I’ve seen that carbon trading and carbon offsets are not a solution to climate change , it does not reduce pollution, it does not reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the Brazilian amazon we are seeing a lot of carbon offsets projects with very adverse impacts for our peoples. What’s happening is that Indigenous Peoples are being criminalized by these carbon offset projects. We’re not destroying the forest. We’re the ones who protecting the forest. Now they are offering our communities money in exchange so that the big polluting companies can use our forests for sponges for their pollution. I am saddened to be here at COP23 because this is just one big carbon trading convention. The government and industries are not defending life on earth, they are doing business, they are figuring out ways to make more money. They don’t care about what is happening in our communities, they don’t care about what we’re suffering. All they care about is their profits. Furthermore, climate change is not going to end or be reduced by their solutions, it’s just about a bunch of lies. People don’t know what’s happening with these false solutions in my community and that’s why I’m here, so I really hope that my message is heated and heard, we must not forget that life itself is at stake and we must not believe the lies of industries and governments.” — Ninawa Inu​ ​Huni kim,​ Chief and ​President​ ​of​ ​the​ ​ Federacao Huni​ ​Kui​ ​People​ ​of​ ​Acre

“I think this is a very significant event today launching this Carbon Pricing Report: A Critical Perspective for Community Resistance because the future of the planet will depend on communities standing strong against false solutions. COP is nothing but a carbon stock exchange because what is really being discussed on the negotiation floors are deals, who can buy what and sell what, who has the rights to keep polluting, whether it’s trees in Nigeria or Kenya or Cameron or Uganda…The polluters don’t want to change from the pattern that has brought us to where we are at today and this is the sickening and the sad thing about the COP. How can we pretend that fiction will solve reality. Carbon Pricing is fiction, selling the price of air, of carbon, and doing anything to stop the pollution but instead they keep pumping the toxic stuff into the atmosphere. I think this report is so vital because it shows that the time to stop green-washing is now.” – Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, No REDD in Africa Network, , Oil Watch, Nigeria, Africa

In response to the promotion of false solutions like carbon trading, grassroots and frontline organization launch ‘Carbon Pricing Report’.

Bonn, Germany — While city, state, and national leaders gather at the UN Climate Talks to launch and implement platforms and agendas that promote carbon trading, carbon offsets, and REDD+, the Indigenous Environmental Network and the Climate Justice Alliance take a bold stance to reject and challenge these so-called innovative solutions by releasing the “Carbon Pricing Report: A Critical Perspective for Community Resistance”.

This report provides in-depth context to why carbon market systems will not mitigate climate change, will not advance adaptation strategies, will not serve the most vulnerable communities facing climate change impacts and only protect the fossil fuel industry and corporations from taking real climate action.

On Wednesday, November 15th, Indigenous Peoples who are impacted by the fossil fuel industry and who will be impacted by these false solutions (carbon markets) will speak at COP23 and demand that their community based solutions be recognized by decision-makers at all levels.

Bonn, Germany – On November 13, 2017, The Trump Administration will held it’s only event, “The Role of Cleaner and More Efficient Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power in Climate Mitigation”, at the UN Climate Talks (COP23) to promote coal and nuclear as a solution to climate change.

The event, hosted by the White House, featured speakers from Peabody Energy and NuScale Power, who promoted fossil fuels as a way to cut emissions and who claimed these industries will benefit “poor communities” globally.

In response, Indigenous Peoples from across the world who represent both low income communities and communities impacted first and hardest by climate change, led a demonstration of song and prayer at the White House event to send a clear message: Keeping coal and nuclear in our energy mix is in complete contradiction to any meaningful climate action plan. The promotion of coal and nuclear power by the United States has serious global impacts and is not an acceptable solution to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

With this event, the Trump Administration is revealing its lack of cooperation with the global community, is promoting dying industries, and is putting more people, especially Indigenous and climate-vulnerable communities at even more risk.

Participant Quotes:

“As Indigenous Peoples with a close relationship to nature, the expansion of fossil fuels extraction and combustion will cause further disruption to the harmony of life as we know it. The dangers and risks of creating a nuclear chain reaction, splitting of atoms and from this so-called nuclear energy, is the creation of nuclear waste that could end up being dumped in sacred Indigenous Peoples treaty lands. The White House policy is rooted in environmental racism and objectifies Mother Earth to no end”, – Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network.

“The current leadership in the United States is extremely disconnected from communities on the frontlines. We suffer every day because of the decisions made in closed rooms without our feedback and participation. The solutions that American people need are solutions that are built by the community. My community, for example, is already doing this work. We are transitioning our community to end systematic dependence on the hydrocarbon industry, we are creating a new democratic economy centered around sustainable methods of productions, distribution, consumption, and recycling, which is locally and cooperatively owned.” – Monica Atkins, Cooperation Jackson.

In Response to America’s Pledge, Californians Ask Governor Brown: Still In for What?

As California Governor Jerry Brown arrives to UN Climate Talks to Promote His Climate Agenda, Californians and Frontline Groups Put Pressure on the Governor to Take Bolder Climate Action to Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground

Bonn, Germany – Today, Californians and those on the frontlines of climate change disrupted Governor Jerry Brown at the American’s Pledge event at the UN climate talks to confront his support of fossil fuels in his state of California.

Governor Brown, deemed ‘America’s Climate Hero,’ has come to the climate talks to promote California as a global model of climate leadership. However, Indigenous Peoples, frontline communities, environmentalists and climate activists held this non-violent direct action to expose his ties to big oil and false solutions such as carbon markets.

In a newly released report, the Center for Biological Diversity found that three-quarters of the oil produced in California is as climate-damaging as Canadian tar sands crude. Moreover, many of California’s oilfields and refineries operate next to homes and schools, particularly in communities of color already overburdened by toxic pollution.

From refusing to ban fracking to letting oil companies dump toxic waste into underground water supplies, Governor Brown promotes policies that incentivize oil and gas production in the state. His cap-and-trade extension includes provisions written by oil lobbyists that prevent state and local agencies from directly limiting carbon emissions from oil refineries. He has also failed to shut down the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility, where the largest methane leak in U.S. history forced thousands to flee their homes in 2015.

The groups are calling on Governor Brown to ban new drilling and fracking, phase out fossil fuel production, and commit to a just transition to clean energy for all.

Participant Quotes:

“Northern California has five refineries stretching along our Bay on the North East side of San Francisco. Those living along this Refinery Corridor experience continuous negative health effects such as respiratory problems, birth defects, leukemia and cancers. California’s answer to our global climate crisis, the Cap and Trade extension (AB 398), will continue allowing refineries to expand, pollute, and ultimately destroy life. The Phillips 66 Refinery in Rodeo, CA plans to expand their marine terminal to increase crude oil imports by water from 30,000 barrels a day to 130,000 barrels a day. We will not let this happen. Decision makers around the world need to understand that Governors Jerry Brown’s carbon market scheme will continue killing our people and poisoning our water, air, and soil. We will not accept the false solution of carbon trading that increase pollution in our hometowns while violating indigenous rights and human rights around the world. We must keep fossil fuels in the ground.” – Daniel Ilario, Idle No More SF/Bay Area

“I wanted to leave a message here, for humanity and all of planet, that the peoples need to join to defend Mother Nature, the soil, water and air because they are being threatened. And humanity needs Nature to survive. So I want to say that Nature and the air are not a means of commerce for anyone and it’s every human’s right to live in peace. Jerry Brown’s “American Pledge” will lead to the displacement of my people and the destruction of my territory. We need to respect the rights of Nature and humans beings that need her to survive.” Ninawa Nuneshuni Kui, President of the Huni Kui People of Acre, Brazil.

“Californians have been asking Governor Brown for years to step up and be a true climate leader. If he is going to be celebrated by the world as a climate leader, he needs to commit to the communities on the frontlines of fossil fuel extraction. Real climate leaders don’t frack. This isn’t just about Californians. The world needs Jerry Brown to do more in his own state.” Eva Malis, Young person from Valencia, CA

While the Trump Administration Rolls Back Climate Protections, a “People’s Delegation” is at COP23 to Showcase What Climate Leadership Must Look Like
Bonn, Germany — Today, community and grassroots leaders from the United States announced their platform at COP23 called the “U.S. People’s Delegation” to counter the Trump Administration’s fossil fuel agenda and to hold US states, cities, businesses, and the public accountable to commitments to climate action. The platform, includes youth, Indigenous peoples, frontline communities, advocates, and policymakers who have come to Bonn with organizations from across the U.S. They have come together to show what climate leadership should look like.
With the Trump Administration rolling back climate protections, expanding fossil fuel development, ramming through dirty infrastructure, and withdrawing the U.S. from its commitments to the Paris Climate Agreement, the People’s Delegation and the organizations involved are taking action to protect communities and isolate the Administration by demanding a fossil free future and real climate action on the local level.

Among the demands are:

A just and equitable transition to 100% renewable energy in all cities and states.

For U.S. elected officials to step up in meaningful ways to ensure bold climate action in the face of the current Administration’s rollback on climate protections, the persistence of ongoing climate disasters, and the impact of existing inequalities and governmental negligence on frontline and vulnerable communities.

A halt to all new fossil fuel projects, with the understanding that the fossil fuel industry continues to perpetuate the climate crisis and sow climate denial, creating a bleak future for generations to come.

A call for all nations to increase their ambition, not decrease it. The commitments countries put forward under the Paris Agreement were already too little, too late and would lead to at least 3.5 degrees of warming, not the 1.5° and 2° goals enshrined in the agreement. We can’t let the US be an excuse for other countries to dial back their action — especially since with cities and states doubling down, the US could be moving forward.

A demand to stop negotiating cap-and-trade, carbon offsets, carbon pricing, and other market schemes that avoid cutting pollution at the source.

Varshini Prakash of SustainUS and Sunrise Movement said, “I have seen climate change-fueled floods destroy lives and livelihoods where my family is from in India. In southern India, thousands of farmers have committed suicide because of drought. Within my lifetime, my home in the States could be underwater if we do nothing to stop climate change. No one should have to live in fear of losing the people that they love or the places that they come from. I’m going to COP23 as part of the People’s Delegation to show that the American people are still in, that we’re ready to fight back against Trump and his regressive policies, and that we refuse to let wealthy CEOs and oil barons lead us down the path of destruction.”

Dallas Goldtooth of Indigenous Environmental Network, part of the It Takes Roots delegation said,”We head to COP23 as part of Indigenous Environmental Network and with the U.S. People’s Delegation to continue the to rise up as Indigenous, Black, and Brown communities against extraction, colonialism and to call for real action from elected leaders who have pledged to address climate change.”

Kiran Ooman, a youth plaintiff with Our Children’s Trust said, “Growing up in the Pacific Northwest of the United States I have witnessed the effects of climate change, from the steady increase in forest fire severity to unnaturally high pollen counts. However, my concern also includes the places where my family live, including India and Florida, where the fatal threat of storms are worsening each year. We are working to hold the Trump Administration accountable not only for their inaction but also for the actions they are taking, such as pushing through new fossil fuel infrastructure and cutting back on environmental regulations, which puts the climate and all people of the earth in danger. As young people, we face the consequences of these actions most acutely, and that’s why I’m I’m here at COP 23 with the U.S. People’s Delegation: To remind the international community that despite our youth we are fighting the unjust actions of the US Government, and we need your support in defending our futures.”

Katia R. Avilés Vázquez of Organización Boricuá, representing the It Takes Roots delegation said, “Puerto Rico has been the victim of a perfect storm of natural weather extremes, fiscal austerity measures, bad management and planning, combined with a colonial situation that prevents us from trading and learning from our sister islands in the Caribbean region. Along with the Caribbean, Puerto Rico was hit by two of the largest hurricanes in recorded history within two weeks of each other in the month of September. Organización Boricuá has been working on the frontlines under the most dire conditions of colonialism, corruption, and climate change. We demand a Just Transition.”

Dyanna Jaye, representing ICLEI U.S. Local Governments for Sustainability and Sunrise Movement said, “Flooding is routine in my coastal Virginia home town; our lands are being slowly reclaimed by the Atlantic Ocean and communities have been forced to flee their homes. From monster hurricanes to the wildfires and deadly heatwaves in the American West, 2017 has shown that the threat of climate change is now. Yet, Trump has allied with fossil fuel CEOs who are dead set on profiting from pollution, including Exxon CEO turned Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. They have no right to represent the American people. Though Trump and his billionaire friends may try to pull us backwards, we, everyday Americans, will keep moving our country forward and make sure our cities, universities, and states take the action we need to stop climate change and create good jobs in our communities.”

Ellen Anderson of Energy Transition Lab, with the Climate Generation delegation said, “We are here to let the world know that most Americans support action on climate change, despite what you hear from Washington. In our state of Minnesota,we are leading the way for the Heartland of America, showing that you can cut carbon, build out renewable energy, create thousands of good-paying jobs, and save money by shifting to a clean energy economy. Our Lt. Governor said to our delegation last week that our state is completely committed to this clean energy transition, and feels the sense of urgency to move forward faster. Our delegation represents academia, educators, and students along with civil society, youth, and indigenous communities, all standing together with the other nations of the world to support and learn from each other how to tackle this existential challenge.”

Thanu Yakupitiyage, U.S. Communications Manager and coordination of the U.S. People’s Delegation said, “The U.S. People’s Delegation is at COP23 to share loud and clear the message that communities back home demand a fast and fair transition to a world free of fossil fuels with 100% renewable energy for all. 350.org is proud to be supporting the work of organizations who were already bringing delegations to COP23. Our work collectively as part of the U.S. People’s Delegation is aimed at amplifying the urgency of climate action, holding accountable elected officials who have said they will step up against the Trump Administration to ensure they turn their words into action, and sharing our stories and solutions from diverse communities. We do not have time to waste, we need real climate action now.”

Among the events that the people’s delegation will conduct this week include:

Community and grassroots leaders from the U.S. on Tuesday announced their platform at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP23). The “U.S. People’s Delegation” is attending to counter the Trump administration’s fossil fuel agenda and to hold U.S. states, cities, businesses and the public accountable to climate action commitments.

The platform includes youth, Indigenous peoples, frontline communities, advocates and policymakers who have come to Bonn, Germany with organizations from across the U.S. They have come together to show what climate leadership should look like.

“We are here to let the world know that most Americans support action on climate change, despite what you hear from Washington,” said Ellen Anderson of Energy Transition Lab, with the Climate Generation delegation. In our state of Minnesota,we are leading the way for the Heartland of America, showing that you can cut carbon, build out renewable energy, create thousands of good-paying jobs, and save money by shifting to a clean energy economy.”

With the Trump administration rolling back climate protections, expanding fossil fuel development, ramming through dirty infrastructure and withdrawing the U.S. from its commitments to the Paris climate agreement, the People’s Delegation and the organizations involved are taking action to protect communities and isolate the administration by demanding a fossil free future and real climate action on the local level.

“I have seen climate change-fueled floods destroy lives and livelihoods where my family is from in India. In southern India, thousands of farmers have committed suicide because of drought,” said Varshini Prakash of SustainUS and Sunrise Movement. “Within my lifetime, my home in the states could be underwater if we do nothing to stop climate change. No one should have to live in fear of losing the people that they love or the places that they come from.”

Among the demands are:

A just and equitable transition to 100 percent renewable energy in all cities and states.

For U.S. elected officials to step up in meaningful ways to ensure bold climate action in the face of the current administration’s rollback on climate protections, the persistence of ongoing climate disasters, and the impact of existing inequalities and governmental negligence on frontline and vulnerable communities.

A halt to all new fossil fuel projects, with the understanding that the fossil fuel industry continues to perpetuate the climate crisis and sow climate denial, creating a bleak future for generations to come.

A call for all nations to increase their ambition, not decrease it. The commitments countries put forward under the Paris agreement were already too little, too late and would lead to at least 3.5°C of warming, not the 1.5°C and 2°C goals enshrined in the agreement. We can’t let the U.S. be an excuse for other countries to dial back their action—especially since with cities and states doubling down, the U.S. could be moving forward.

A demand to stop negotiating cap-and-trade, carbon offsets, carbon pricing and other market schemes that avoid cutting pollution at the source.

At COP23, while the People’s Delegation is calling for meaningful climate action, the Trump administration is pushing coal, natural gas and nuclear energy as an “answer” to climate change.

“From monster hurricanes to the wildfires and deadly heatwaves in the American West, 2017 has shown that the threat of climate change is now,” said Dyanna Jaye, representing ICLEI U.S. Local Governments for Sustainability and Sunrise Movement. “Yet Trump has allied with fossil fuel CEOs who are dead set on profiting from pollution, including Exxon CEO turned Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. They have no right to represent the American people. Though Trump and his billionaire friends may try to pull us backwards, we, everyday Americans, will keep moving our country forward and make sure our cities, universities and states take the action we need to stop climate change and create good jobs in our communities.”